A further blog post on Theda Tammas's "Dissected Soul"

Diomita Maurer has also written a post about Dissected Soul, which you can read here: https://themaurers.me/2017/11/12/simploring-2017-88-dissected-soul/

Another blog commentary on Theda Tammas's "Dissected Soul"

Inara Pey wrote an excellent commentary on Theda Tammas's Dissected Soul which you can ready here: https://modemworld.me/2017/10/30/a-dissected-soul-in-second-life/

Blog commentary on Theda Tammas's "Dissected Soul"

There is an excellent blog post on Theda Tammas's Dissected Soul by Yoon.  Thanks, Yoon!

Theda Tammas's "Dissected Soul" at Split Screen

Dissected Soul by Theda Tammas is now open at Split Screen. In this intriguing work, bodies are fractured, contorted, ripped through with holes. A red thread connects many of them, and much of the thread bears loops of barbed wire. The centerpiece is a heart shattering into small pieces which fly into the air. And all of it lies in a shallow lake that reflects a dramatically chiaroscuro sky.

Click to enlarge

Thinking of her installation, Theda quotes a poem by Fernando Pessoa:

I don’t know how many souls I have, I’ve changed at every moment. I always feel like a stranger. I’ve never seen or found myself.

Dissected Soul is at Split Screen's temporary spaee at LEA15 through December: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/LEA15/59/190/43

More blog posts on JadeYu Fhang and Krystali Rabeni at Split Screen

Catching up a little -- there have been two more blog posts about the works by JadeYu Fhang and Krystali Rabeni at Split Screen:


Kara Trapdoor

Diomita Maurer

My thanks to both!

Blog posts and machinima on JadeYu Fhang and Krystali Rabeni at Split Screen

Some posts have been published discussing the installations by JadeYu Fhang and Krystali Rabeni at Split Screen (in alpha order):

Inara Pey

Kate Bergdorf

Oema

Yoon

In addition, at least two machinima have been made of JadeYu's work. In Oema's, the camera slowly winds through much of JadeYu's installation, aiming to highlight its many sections and facets as a journey.




And Iono Allen brings his own artistic vision in his machinima:




My thanks to all!

Split Screen @ LEA hosts JadeYu Fhang and Krystali Rabeni

Opening on 12 Aug are two installations hosted by Split Screen at its LEA sim. JadeYu Fhang's EveryWhere and NoWhere occupies the ground level. It is an extensive and complex work consisting several scenes and settings. The world JadeYu has created is peopled mainly by women with elongated bodies and insect wings, some with bull-like horns as well. One woman presents another with a small tree; others gather at what might be a seance; a trio launch themselves into the air. There is also a horse and (female) centaur. But at the landing point, the women have no wings, and we hear a plaintive song-cry surrounded by a sonar-like ping. The land itself has been terraformed into curlicues. This installation rewards exploration, as there are many small scenes throughout.

EveryWhere and NoWhere by JadeYu Fhang
(click to enlarge)

Krystali Rabeni's The Games We Play concentrates on a single image: chess. But it is a sort of three-dimensional chess, with some pieces on the wall. And several pawns have sprouted wings and are flying as if to attack -- one wonders if they are actually the most powerful pieces in this game.

The Games We Play by Krystali Rabeni
(click to enlarge)

As they don't provide explanatory notecards, both artists allow the visitor to interpret the installations as they wish.

The installations will be open at LEA15 until the end of September.

SLURL: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/LEA15/138/128/551

Split Screen receives a LEA Artist in Residence grant

I'm pleased to announce that I will receive a Linden Endowment for the Arts "Artist in Residence" grant (official announcement here). The grant provides a full sim for six months, which I will use as a home for Split Screen. (I explain the loss of Split Screen's original home here.) The grant begins in July, and hopefully the first two installations will open a month or so later.

In the meantime, Giovanna Cerise's Flash back / flash forward -- a Second Life Destination Guide Editor's Pick -- can still be visited here through the end of July.

I'd like to thank the LEA committee for enabling Split Screen to continue.

More blogger commentaries on Giovanna Cerise's "Flash Back/Flash Forward"

There have been two more blog posts commenting on Giovanna Cerise's "Flash Back/Flash Forward":

Kate Bergdorf: https://katebergdorf.wordpress.com/2017/06/12/art-in-june/ (a truly excellent analysis)

Maddy Gynoid (in German): https://echtvirtuell.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/split-screen-flash-back-flash-forward.html

Bloggers on Giovanna Cerise's "Flash Back / Flash Forward"

There have been a couple of excellent blog posts about Giovanna Cerise's Flash Back / Flash Forward at Split Screen. My thanks to the authors for their insightful commentaries!

• Inara Pey 
• Yoon (aka Onyxxe)

And I'm happy to say, Flash Back / Flash Forward is an SL Destination Guide Editor's Pick!

News and more blog posts on Haveit Neox's "Bleeding Books"

I'm rather behind, but here are some updates on Haveit Neox's Bleeding Books:

• It was selected as an SL Destination Guide Editor's Pick
• Inara Pey wrote a very insightful commentary on her blog.
• It was also covered by Kara Trapdoor and Maddy Gynoid (in German)

Blog post by Caitlin Tobias about "Bleeding Books"

Caitlin Tobias has written a blog post about Haveit Neox's Bleeding Books. It includes a machinima she created which gives a great sense of the installation. Thanks, Caitlin!

Haveit Neox: "Bleeding Books" at Split Screen

Haveit Neox creates some of the most recognizable art in Second Life, partly because of his style, and partly because of certain recurring motifs (such as centaurs). In Bleeding Books, now open at Split Screen through 30 April, the main returning motifs are ships, architecture, and -- most prominently in this installation -- writing. Books hang in the sky, and from some of them a torrent of letters pours out, raining on the people below. Letters also form twisting bands hanging down into the space. At ground level there is a large building where, among other things, letters can be found imprisoned. Haveit writes:

Bleeding Books begins in the sky, and drops to the large fortress at ground level. It is a story in my ongoing series on abuse as seen through the lens of language. What happens when knowledge is so disrespected that it is freely contaminated with doses of falsehood? There are avenues to properly sort facts in this information age, yet we easily turn a blind eye to certain evidence if it goes counter to our beliefs – even when our choices may cause immeasurable harm. In the exhibit, the texts of books bleed falling letters of the alphabet, for they can no longer contain any structure of value.

Bleeding Books by Haveit Neox

As Haveit's note suggests, there is often a political edge to his work. He is, in my view, one of the few artists in SL who manages to integrate political thought into his work in a highly effective manner.

The installation uses a windlight: "Phototools- Got It Light." If you're using Firestorm it should apply automatically; otherwise, select it within your viewer for the intended effect.

Bleeding Books is at Split Screen (http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Amra/52/128/130) for the next two months. Visitors interested in Haveit's work should also see his installation, The Haul, now on view at MetaLES.

Machinima of Alpha Auer's "from here on there be dragons"

There is a machinima of Alpha Auer's from here on there be dragons by Veyot. The dancers use the avatars that Alpha provides at the installation's landing points. I enjoyed watching the video quite a bit!

From here on there be dragons from Veyot on Vimeo.

Many thanks, Veyot!

News about Alpha Auer's "from here on there be dragons"

I'm happy to say, Alpha Auer's from here on there be dragons has been selected as and Editor's Pick for the SL Destination Guide.

It has also received a very insightful reviews by Inara Pey and Ziki Questi.

Many thanks!

Alpha's from here on there be dragons will be at Split Screen until 31 January.

Alpha Auer's "from here on there be dragons" at Split Screen

Alpha Auer's large installations often introduce drawings from the past, mythological elements (sometimes creating her own mythology), and science fiction imagery. Her installations may integrate one, two, or all three of these types of images. Her newest work, from here on there be dragons at Split Screen, is no exception.

The minimalist structure suggests a futuristic building built with basic geometrical forms, with numerous pyramids and a checkerboard floor whose black squares draw from the past by displaying negative images from a 16th century atlas by Abraham Ortelius. The building has two levels which mirror each other.

Throughout this building one finds various dragons and a few fish--the sorts of creatures that lurk in our cultural mythologies, living in a universe beyond our knowledge. Some, in the European style, are winged and reptilian beasts (sometimes associated with Satan). Most however are Chinese, which are more serpentine and (as typically portrayed) hold in their claws a pearl; they are often associated with wisdom and authority. In an unusual twist, the beings are all golden. Their reflections shimmer beneath them.

As Alpha writes of the dragons, "These dangerous wonders reside within our inner selves as much as they reside in external circumstances. Of these it is the inner territory that interests me more - hence the abstraction of the architecture that my, seemingly real, dragons guard. Because what is unknown in the inner self is abstract, but our fear of it is very concrete."

from here on there be dragons (Click to enlarge)

At the landing point, Alpha offers a free avatar, which you can wear as you visit the installation. She is in fact known for her fantastical avatars (see her alpha.tribe shop in-world and in the SL marketplace).

The installation uses a special windlight, which should activate automatically if you use Firestorm. If not, select "[TOR] BIG SUN - Variationz."

Alpha Auer's from here on there be dragons will be showing at Split Screen until 31 January 2017.

Split Screen included in Kate Bergdorf's "Top SL Galleries" list

I'm very pleased that Kate Bergdorf included the Split Screen Installation Space in her personal list of 2016's top 15 galleries in Second Life. Her list, she writes, is based on her judgment of "the quality of the art shown in the gallery, the curator investment and dedication to the gallery itself and, finally, the uniqueness of the gallery build or space ... [among] galleries that exhibit artists on a rotating basis." Thanks, Kate!

"The Pillars": two blog posts and a machinima

Two bloggers (to my knowledge) have posted on Oberon's The Pillars so far: Kara Trapdoor and Ziki Questi.

And Tizzy Canucci created a machinima that captures the installation very well:


The Pillars from Tizzy Canucci on Vimeo.

Many thanks to all three!

Oberon Onmura's "The Pillars" at Split Screen

The Pillars: Four Moments of Contemplation by Oberon Onmura has opened at Split Screen.  A striking work, it is composed of over 70 needle-like mountains jabbing into the air, mist or smoke rising from their peaks.  Bird-like creatures fly overhead.  It may seem as though that's all there is, but suddenly there are flashes of light, and towers as tall as the mountains appear scattered across the space, mostly straight up but some leaning, as quickly fading away -- like visual echoes of the mountains themselves.  Out of four of the mountains, a platform juts forward, each bearing a bot -- standing about, kneeling, crawling, spinning.  Oberon writes:

This work is an installation which embodies terraforming, complex scripted objects, and bots. A "forest" of vertical mounds is inhabited by four avatars, each enclosed in a unique soundscape and constrained to a single animation. A plain white chair beside each avatar invites the viewer to sit and contemplate each small scene.

Oberon Onmura's The Pillars: Four Moments of Contemplation

(click to enlarge)

Oberon's work often has a minimalist quality with a mesmerizing effect, and Four Pillars is no exception. That sensibility contributes to the work's invitation to contemplate, or simply observe. He has used bots occasionally before; one doesn't ask who they are or what their purpose is -- they don't even seem to be symbols of anything in specific (although one can interpret them that way). They are more like icons of certain feelings, conditions or attitudes. Thus contemplation here is not necessarily about anything, although it can be; but absorbing the tonality of each location is essential.

The recommended windlights are "[TOR] SCIFI - Arrakissed 2" for the sky, and "[TOR] Arrakissed variation" for the water.  If you use Firestorm they should kick in automatically.  If you use another viewer, be sure to set them manually because they are crucial to the look and feel of this work, as you can see in the photos.  Shadows and water reflections are also highly recommended -- use Ultra settings if you can.

The Pillars: Four Moments of Contemplation will be open through October.

Excellent review of Cherry Manga's "The Path"

Inara Pey has written an excellent review of Cherry Manga's The Path on her blog. It gives a rich interpretation which I hope visitors will find illuminating.  Thanks, Inara!

SLURL to The Path at Split Screen.